Confucius Institute Bridges US, China Links High National Need for Schools, UH, Chinese Language Teachers to Be Met Workforce by Matthew K
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Inside News 2 Features 3, 7 Wednesday Commentary 4, 5 November 8, 2006 Comics 6 Sports 8 VOL. 101 | ISSUE 57 Serving the students of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa since 1922 WWW.KALEO.ORG Warriors’ close A journey to game against 49ers Turkey reveals the ends in defeat human spirit Sports | Page 8 Features | Page 7 Partnership Confucius Institute bridges US, China links high National need for schools, UH, Chinese language teachers to be met workforce By Matthew K. Ing By Andrew Affleck Ka Leo News Editor Ka Leo Staff Reporter “A good beginning is half the The University of Hawai‘i, in road to success.” conjunction with the Department Citing Confucius, Li Yaosheng, of Education, Gov. Linda Lingle, the Los Angeles Consul of Education and Hawaii’s Business Roundtable for the People’s Republic of China, have agreed to join the American helped announce Monday the estab- Diploma Project, a national initia- lishment of the Confucius Institute at tive that seeks to ease students’ the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. transitions from high school to The institute will create a coop- college or the work force. erative relationship between China Hawai‘i, Arizona, Maine and and the United States to disseminate New Mexico all agreed this year the Chinese language and culture, to join the organization that was UH Vice Chancellor for Academic started in 2005 by Achieve, Inc., Affairs Neal Smatresk said. The UH and now connects 26 states. Confucius Institute is one of 111 By joining the ADP, Hawai‘i being established worldwide in 46 has agreed to expand its existing countries, and one of 12 in the U.S. efforts to make high school stan- The Chinese government has dards, assessments and curricula agreed to donate more than $113,000 more challenging. That way, stu- to the university, as well as two full- dents know what to expect when DAN RICHARDS • Ka Leo o Hawai‘i time faculty members to teach the they graduate. Chinese language, one of whom being Hao Ping unveils the Confucius Institute at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa on Monday. Coordinators believe that this an associate dean of the Chinese lan- is vital in Hawai‘i, as the state’s guage, according to Cynthia Ning, the of the Chinese language. As part of the Hawai‘i State Department of it,” Ning said. “[The Confucius sophomore reading and mathemat- associate director of the UH Center the program, the Departments of Education, will work together to try Institute] establishes a cooperation to ics scores were lower than six East Asian Languages and Second to fill the national vacancies. train teachers for those specific skills. other states in a survey conducted for Chinese Studies. Language Education, and the College “Just because you can speak by Achieve, Inc. The results found Ning said that the U.S. is in See Confucius, page 2 that Hawaii’s comprehension cur- need of more than 2,500 teachers of Education at UH, with help from Chinese doesn’t mean you can teach riculum was more in line with what post-second- ary faculty would expect, Students make Hawaiian adze on campus but the reading By Michelle White basalt. He found a comfortable test was easier Ka Leo Managing Editor position and, using black sand, he than most of started to create a beveled edge on the other states JOHNSRUD A group of archaeology stu- his crudely-shaped adze. surveyed. In dents at the University of Hawai‘i UH student Eric Ferraro took over math, Hawaii’s at Mānoa gathered a few weeks as sweat poured from Porter’s face. test was more rigorous than in ago near a pond located on the UH “Adze-making is hard work,” other states, but the scores for lower campus by the football prac- Porter said. passing were comparable to the tice field. As Ferraro and Porter worked, other states. Using techniques practiced in The National Center for Public UH student Michele Magi held Hawai‘i since about 1000 A.D., Policy and Higher Education’s obsidian in one hand while using a they chipped and grounded basalt annual report card for Hawai‘i stone in her other hand to chip away said that with its low performance into preforms. The final product at the rock. Her hands had a few in education, Hawaii’s youth will will be a Hawaiian adze. cuts and abrasions, proof that stone- greatly affect the state and the “Basalt was Hawaii’s key tool- work is not for the weak. Magi also making rock,” said Robert Bollt, economy in the future. The work- used bone or antler billets in later lecturer of Archeology 380 Lab force will not be competent to fill stages to refine obsidian pieces. Techniques. He received his doc- the jobs left vacant by retirees. Students used a grinding stone toral degree from UH, and did his The report also stated that which came from a wall near the Hawai‘i continues to fall behind dissertation research in French pond site. Water and various types in graduating ninth-graders within Polynesia. four years and enrolling them in He and his students traveled of sand were placed on the rock’s college by age 19. These rates to Kapa‘a in Kailua to collect the flat surface to aid in shaping the have dropped by double digits basalt that they are now using. basalt. since the early 1990s. Kapa‘a, more specifically the “Black sand keeps its abrasive- Linda Johnsrud, vice presi- Kapa‘a Quarry, is located in what ness much better compared to white dent for Academic Planning and was once an ancient site. The rocks sand,” Bollt said. “A friend from Policy at UH, said she supports from Kapa‘a were used to make the Big Island sent me some black Hawaii’s decision to join the ADP. tools, which, in turn, were used to sand.” He also uses olivine, or She said that high schools, univer- build homes, voyaging canoes and green, sand to finish the process. sities and the business sector need other weapons and tools needed for Bollt’s students all agreed that to be working together toward one survival. their class is like no other, calling it goal. Johnsrud thinks it is great It took anthropology major “fun” and “hands-on.” DANNAH GONZALES • Ka Leo o Hawai‘i Jarib Porter about five to six hours The class also performs cul- See Diploma, page 2 Eric Ferrarl shapes basalt into an adze using black sand. to make one Hawaiian adze with tural surveys in Waimånalo. Page 2 | Ka Leo O Hawai‘i | Wednesday, November 8, 2006 | NEWS at Mililani High School, said that although his school was one of the higher-ranked schools academi- Diploma cally in Hawai‘i, the American From page 1 Diploma Program is important to students across the state. “Education is essential that the university faculty and busi- for individuals and the state,” ness leaders are talking with DOE Brummel said. “We can’t be left and administrators. behind academically. Jobs in the “It’s about time to stop the future are relying on higher educa- talk,” Johnsrud said, “[and] started tion, and Hawaii’s students aren’t working together.” measuring up too well when it Johnsrud explained that the comes to going onto post-second- program will provide technical ary institutions.” assistance and consultation that Brummel said that he hopes will help K-12 teachers and post- to use the program as a means to secondary faculty work together so students know what it takes to let students know what they need succeed in both college and in the to do to be ready for the transition work force. to the university level and to the “This is an effort to be pro- workforce. active,” Johnsrud said. “Linking “Most people today need a K-12 teachers with university fac- college degree if they want to be ulty will help the students. For on a livable wage,” Johnsrud said. example, we can take a passage “In Hawai‘i, tourism is the biggest written by a high school student industry, and there are a lot of and get evaluations from a high low-end jobs in the service sector, DAN RICHARDS • Ka Leo o Hawai‘i school teacher and, say, an English but these people recognize later FROM LEFT: Interim Chancellor Denise Konan, President David McClain, President of Bejing Foreign Studies and Governon Linda Lingle watch 100 professor. By doing this, we that you can’t do these jobs for the the opening presentation of the Confucius Institute at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa on Monday. can expect the standards to be rest of your life if you want to buy matched on the same wavelength a house or get married.” because of the large Chinese popu- for Japanese speakers came with between school and university.” Achieve, Inc. said that roughly lation in Hawai‘i but also because the rush of Japanese tourists, so The director of the DOE’s two-thirds of all new jobs require of the “big role” that the Chinese must we train Chinese speakers, Systems Accountability Office, some form of post-secondary edu- Confucius will play in upcoming decades. she said. Robert McClelland, said that the cation, with experts expecting that From page 1 “No one can doubt that China Hao Ping, UH alumnus and program would be valuable to the number to increase in the future. will grow into and is a major world president of Beiging Foreign state for several reasons. However, Hawai‘i is not the power,” Lingle said.